lamontagne: Kalpana-type and km-scale settlements (2022–2023)

A series of kilometre-scale, ~10,000-person settlement designs.

Design summary

• Sun-facing Kalpana (v1). An outer shell counter-rotates, so L = 0; radiators sit in the arrays' shadow; 950 m diameter × 800 m wide; ~10,000 people; inverted (concave, compressive) end domes lamontagne, 2023-01-09.
• 5 m outer-wall shielding; a CFRP pressure hull ~0.3 m thick.
• Mirrors deliver ~300 W/m² for surface agriculture lamontagne, 2023-01-11.
• ~30% of radiation passes through the end caps; hardened sleeping quarters lamontagne, 2023-01-11.
• v2. A tubular shielding zone (5 m of mass + 5 m of water); a 4 m thick counter-rotating steel ring cancels L; curved inner walls save hundreds of kt of N₂/O₂ lamontagne, 2023-01-16.
• Base5 concave Kalpana. 1 km, ~10,000 inhabitants, 1.4 rpm; budget ≤$1M per person (≤$50B) lamontagne, 2023-02-15; lamontagne, 2023-02-16.
• The counter-rotating ring runs on ~50,000 train bogies at ~240 km/h lamontagne, 2023-02-18.
• Ring1/ring2 "tubular" habitat. 1 km × 100 m wide, edge-on to the sun; LED arches at 300–600 W/m²; 5 m regolith with post-tensioned cables lamontagne, 2023-02-19.
• Needs ≥50–60 kW per person for food, so only 2000–3000 people can be powered lamontagne, 2023-02-20.
• Base7. 1.4 rpm, 1 km, 10,000 people, artificial lighting, not sun-pointing; free-flying solar array plus microwave power lamontagne, 2023-03-03. Orbit geometries for a sun-facing array lamontagne, 2023-03-03; lamontagne, 2023-03-04.
• Mars-orbit ring4. 1 km, 1.3 rpm, two 100 m wide sections as mutual refuges; 5 m post-stressed concrete; Mechazilla-like towers catch Starships; built from Phobos materials, one every 2–3 years, ~8000 people lamontagne, 2023-04-18; lamontagne, 2023-04-18.
• Kalpana II variant (2026). 110 m diameter × 60–70 m, side-on to the sun, an atrium lit by mirrors, two independent pressure sections. It succeeds Island Zero lamontagne, 2026-09-16.
• Economics. Greenhouse economics lamontagne, 2023-01-28; L5 cost model lamontagne, 2024-03-20.

Critiques raised

• Twark_Main: the end caps are unshielded; the empty central volume is costly ("cinematographers love it, CPAs hate it") Twark_Main, 2023-01-11.
• The "sun-facing without precession" argument doesn't work Twark_Main, 2023-01-13.
• Bogies are unnecessary Twark_Main, 2023-02-18.
• Deimos may be dry lamontagne, 2023-04-26.

Open questions

• Which power architecture (mirrors, LEDs + PV, or beamed) makes a 10,000-person settlement feasible?

Related pages

• Kalpana One and Globus · Cylinders and spheres · Agriculture

Sources

Forum posts

• lamontagne, 2023-01-09 (reply #2830, 3 likes): Kalpana settlement (3 likes). Post. Attachments: Image16.png, Image15.png, Image17.png, Image12.png, cut2.png.
• Twark_Main, 2023-01-11 (reply #2857): End caps; central volume. Post.
• lamontagne, 2023-01-11 (reply #2866): Hull & mirrors. Post.
• lamontagne, 2023-01-11 (reply #2868): End caps. Post. Attachments: Station.png, Station (1).png.
• Twark_Main, 2023-01-13 (reply #2878): Doesn't work. Post.
• lamontagne, 2023-01-16 (reply #2918): Kalpana v2. Post. Attachments: Base4d.png, Base4e.png, Base4c.png, Base4b.png.
• lamontagne, 2023-01-28 (reply #3144, 2 likes): Greenhouse economics. Post. Attachments: Kalpana greenhouse.jpg.
• lamontagne, 2023-02-15 (reply #3305, 1 like): Base5 (1 like). Post. Attachments: Base5_Scene 7.jpg.
• lamontagne, 2023-02-16 (reply #3316, 1 like): Base5 detail (1 like). Post. Attachments: Base5cut.png, Base5front.png, Base5 housing.png.
• lamontagne, 2023-02-18 (reply #3340, 1 like): Bogies (1 like). Post. Attachments: counter ring1.png, counter ring2.png, counter ring3.png, counter ring4.png, counter ring5.png.
• Twark_Main, 2023-02-18 (reply #3342): Bogies unnecessary. Post.
• lamontagne, 2023-02-19 (reply #3354, 3 likes): Tubular ring (3 likes). Post. Attachments: ring1a.jpg, ring1b.jpg, ring1c.jpg.
• lamontagne, 2023-02-20 (reply #3357, 2 likes): Power limits population (2 likes). Post.
• lamontagne, 2023-03-03 (reply #3458): Base7. Post. Attachments: Base7_Scene 14.jpg.
• lamontagne, 2023-03-03 (reply #3466): Orbit geometries. Post. Attachments: sun pointing a.png, sun pointing c.png, sun pointing b.png.
• lamontagne, 2023-03-04 (reply #3469, 2 likes): Orbit geometries (2 likes). Post. Attachments: sun pointing1.png, sun pointing2.png, sun pointing3.png.
• lamontagne, 2023-04-18 (reply #3613, 1 like): Ring4 towers. Post. Attachments: ring4_Scene 8.jpg.
• lamontagne, 2023-04-18 (reply #3615): Ring4 (1 like). Post.
• lamontagne, 2023-04-26 (reply #3633): Deimos dry. Post.
• lamontagne, 2024-03-20 (reply #4594, 1 like): L5 cost model. Post. Attachments: costs.PNG, JBIS-v72-no09-September-October-2019_dk64ll.pdf.
• lamontagne, 2026-09-16 (reply #5114): Kalpana II variant. Post. Attachments: Kalpana 2b-full.jpg, Kalpana 2b.jpg, Image20_003.jpg.